Integrating emergency preparedness training and H1N1 vaccine administration: Lessons learned

The Anchorage School District (Alaska) received a grant for a district-wide Emergency Preparedness Exercise. As one of the largest districts in the US with 50,000 students in 94 schools, Anchorage is the major state hub. Over the past five years, the district has received grants to help prepare for earthquakes, wildfires and planning. When the H1N1 influenza became a national emergency, the granting agency allowed the district to combine the scheduled preparedness exercise with actual vaccine administration to the high risk group: school-aged children. This resulted in a major community effort with public health agencies and volunteers working with district principals, teachers, administrators and nurses to vaccinate over 20,000 of the 50,000. Planning with state and municipal public health, fire department and police along with just-in-time training for staff and volunteers increased the readiness to handle a major emergency. There were lessons learned on coordination of worker, departments, writing of a district emergency preparedness plan, training, recruiting, partnering, adjusting for shortages of staff, supplies and vaccine, gathering data, tracking and storing vaccine, obtaining parental consent, translating the consents into six languages (Hmong, Tagalog, Spanish, Samoan, Korean, Russian), documenting, and implementing the event over a period of 30 days/six weeks of vaccinating. As a result of the exercise, changes were made to make information more accessible, communication more informative and the flow of work smoother. This exercise helped the district involve all staff plus the community in disaster training and learning the multiple roles to keep students safe.